Phoenix from the Flames
by g for gnome
Summary: There's a new girl at the Heartbreak, but will this lead to a life-changing choice for Meat? Her life may be at a cross roads, which way will she turn? Genre might change. Rated T for content, might change for later chapters
1. Introduction

This is a fanfiction my friend is currently writing, she doesn't have an account so gave me permission to post it on mine. She's a talented writer, so enjoy :) and review so I can prove I'm not the only one who thinks she's brilliant

* * *

Not a lot was known of the Bohemians, there where whispered stories at school of course, apparently they lived underground creating their own music and were looking to fulfil an ancient prophecy to find the place of Living Rock.

I had done as much research as I could about them, what they stood for, what they believed and I found myself very interested in the way they lived. I had read through all the encrypted files about them and something known as the ancient texts. Something that dated back before the 'Gaga years' began, before Globalsoft took over the planet and it became known as Planet Mall, from what I had read it had once been called Earth.

It was now a place where the sun always shone, it never rained, I wasn't quite sure what rain was, but from what I had read it was water that fell from the sky.

Everyone wore the same kind of clothes, listened to the same kind of computer generated sounds that passed as music, did the same dances. Everything was dictated to us by my aunt, an evil woman who goes by the name Killer Queen. Apparently I was her favourite niece, but I knew it was only because I could do things with computer programs that her hired help could only dream of. She didn't know half of what I could do, she had no idea I had hacked into the encrypted files, nor did she know that I was going to hunt out these Bohemians. I didn't want to live in a world with no real music. The computer generated rubbish that everyone listened to didn't move me emotionally, but the music that I had heard through the encrypted files set my soul on fire. It moved me in ways I never thought possible.

I would live my life fighting against my own family if it meant the rest of Planet Mall could hear what I had heard. So setting off for school that day I knew it would be the last day I saw my family...


	2. Chapter 1

I was sitting at my desk at school, the building I loved and hated in equal measure. I was doing my final bit of research before going off in search of the Bohemians; I was excited but very nervous. If I couldn't find them I would be very disappointed, but if I did find them and they wouldn't let me join them that would be worse. I was looking at some of the more recent encrypted notes from the Secret Police in the reports that they had sent to my aunt.

Every once in a while I'd look up from the laptop to make it look like I was paying attention to what the teacher was telling us. I knew what she was talking about anyway, tomorrow was the last day of school, and she was informing everyone about the party. A party that I wouldn't be attending, even if I didn't find the Bohemians I wouldn't be going. Mindless music for mindless idiots, not really a way that I wanted to be spending my evening.

As the day continued I found what I was looking for, the last suspected place the Bohemians were living. An abandoned underground rail station called Tottenham Court Road. That wasn't that far out of town, it would probably take me a few hours to find it though. I saved the map to my hard-drive, knowing I would have to take off my wrist device because unlike most of the mindless drones on Planet Mall I knew it contained a tracking device, a way for the Secret Police and Killer Queen to keep an eye on the population. I created the device when I was 10 years old. Now 8 years later I was looking to escape her control, it probably wouldn't surprise my father, he had always called me a free spirit, even had a nickname for me, Phoenix. From what I had learnt, a phoenix was a lone flying bird that in Greek mythology always rose from the flames to continue. I would miss my father; he had always allowed me to do whatever I chose to do, even if his crazy sister said otherwise.

I had been walking for hours, beginning to give up hope, when I heard voices. I quietly walked over in the direction of the voices and I saw a girl I recognised, she had been in the year above me at school, as had the boy she was with. I couldn't remember either of their names. They were with two people I really didn't recognise. A big guy, no other way to describe him, he was massive. And a girl. About my height, long blonde hair with ribbons and feathers in it, her outfit would catch anyone's attention. Short tartan shorts, ripped fishnets and big black combat boots.

It took me a while to realise they had seen me, and were all looking at me in utter amusement, I myself was fascinated, more by the blonde girl than the others, but pretty things did tend to catch my eye.

The girl I vaguely remembered from school was the first to talk.

"You lost Gaga girl?" she asked, not in a necessarily unfriendly manner, she was still very amused.

"Yes and no…" I said.

"Well which is it?" the blonde asked, "yes or no?"

She had a beautiful smile, her eyes sparkled in a way I had never seen before, her accent was something I'd never heard before, and I believe the term was Scottish.

"Well I'm not a Gaga girl and… actually I was looking for you guys…" I said, "Well not you guys specifically… you are Bohemians right?"

The guy I kind of recognised looked at the others.

"The end of the current school year?" he asked.

The all laughed.

"That's actually tomorrow…" I said.

"You're early then." The big guy said, "What do you know about us?"

"Music…" I said, "the real kind… with instruments, and lyrics that don't really make sense, but still make the whole world make sense at the same time… music that makes me want to laugh and cry at the same time…"

"What's your name?" the Scottish girl asked.

"Phoenix…" I said, deciding to go with what my dad always called me.

She nodded.

"That'll do…" she said with a smile.

The girl I remembered from school walked over to me, looking me up and down she walked around me looking at what I was wearing.

"This just won't do," she said, "don't you agree Meat?"

The blonde girl just smiled and walked over to me as well.

"There could be a few…" she started to say, "changes…"

The others laughed. I had no idea what I was in for. But they hadn't tied me up or told me to go home, so it was a start.

Later that night I was sitting in the place the Bohemians called home, Tottenham Court Road station, or the Heartbreak as they called it. I had found out most of their names, odd names like Scaramouch and Galileo, Macca and Madonna. The big guy I had met earlier was called Brit, and the blonde girl was called Meat, short for Meat Loaf apparently. So many names, so many sights and sounds, it was amazing to see how they lived.

Next to me was my bag, it had my laptop in it, the one thing I knew I wouldn't be able to live without. No one knew where I was, I knew it must have been getting late, my parents had probably sent out a search party by now. But there was no way I could go back, not now.

A few hours passed and I was starting to get tired, I had no idea what time it was, and being underground meant that there were no windows so no light. I yawned, and then noticed Meat looking at me with a smile on her face. I laughed to myself and looked away; chances are I blushed as well.

"You tired?" she asked.

Everyone looked at me, almost like they had forgotten I was there.

"A little…" I said.

She nodded, stood up, and walked over to me.

"Come with me." She said.

I stood up, grabbed my bag, and followed her. The others started to whisper and laugh amongst themselves. Meat looked at them.

"Shut up." She said.

There were a few more laughs, but the majority of them were quiet.

We walked out of the main door and towards the back of the station.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Well you're tired," she said, "so you need somewhere to sleep…"

We passed a few rooms with the doors open. On the doors that were closed there were posters and notes saying whose room it was.

"This place is a lot bigger than it looks." I said.

"We get visitors," she said, "other Bohemians…"

"So you guys aren't the whole group?" I asked.

"No," she said with a laugh, "there are groups all over the world, all in search of the same thing…"

"And what's that?" I asked.

She stopped and looked at me.

"The truth…" she replied.

I nodded a little, before looking around me again.

"The doors which are closed are people's rooms," she said, "Most people have their own rooms, or share with boyfriends or girlfriends, or both…"

I laughed.

"The open doors are the empty rooms," she said, "spare rooms if you like, for when people come and visit."

I could listen to Meat talking all day and not get bored, her accent was mesmerising.

"Are you keeping up?" she asked with a smile on her face.

"Yeah," I replied, "yep… where am I going to sleep?"

"Well we weren't expecting visitors," she said, "so no one set up a room for you… and everyone seemed to forget you were even here… you're very quiet."

"I'm just taking it all in…" I said.

She nodded.

"So, err," she said, "I was thinking, maybe, if you wanted to, you could stay in my room… just for tonight, you know till we can sort a room out for you."

"Okay…" I said.

"Obviously there's only one bed…" she said, "it's a double though so there's plenty room, cause let's be honest here you won't take up that much space…"

I laughed and Meat smiled and continued walking, we took a left at the end of the corridor and headed down to the end of hallway. Meat stopped in front of the door at the end of the hallway.

"This is my room…" she said, motioning to the door, "that room there to the left is Brits room, and the one to the right is Galileo and Scaramouche's room…"

"Okay." I said.

"Don't worry," she said with a cheeky smile, "the walls are thick you won't be able to hear them…"

"Is there only Brit in that room?" I asked, motioning to Brits door.

"Depends on his mood," she said, "why, do you want to share with him instead?"

"Hell no…" I said, "He's not really my type…"

She smiled.

"What is your type?" she asked.

"That is something you'll have to figure out for yourself." I replied.

She laughed and opened the door to her room.


	3. Chapter 2

Meat had been fussing around for about half an hour before she handed me a t-shirt, it was certainly what would be classed as over-sized, it would probably come down to my knees.

"I take it you've got nothing to sleep in…" she said, in reply to my questioning look.

"Well maybe I didn't plan this too well…" I said with a laugh.

"It should be big enough to sleep in," she said, "it gets pretty warm in here on a night, and with two people sharing a bed… well it's been a while, but I'm sure it'll get even warmer… so you should be okay wearing that… I mean, that is if you're comfortable wearing that sleeping in the same bed as me…"

"If you promise not to jump me while I'm asleep then I'm sure I'll manage." I replied.

She blushed.

"I'll leave you to get changed then…" she said, averting her eyes and leaving the room.

I had to laugh as the door closed; she really didn't seem like the shy modest type, I guess sometimes looks really can be deceiving.

While I was getting changed Macca had turned up outside Meat's bedroom door. I could hear what was being said because the door wasn't properly closed.

"We might have an issue…" he said.

"What kind of issue?" Meat asked.

"The girl…" he said.

"What about her?" she asked.

"A couple of the boys just came back down from the surface," he said, "there's police everywhere… Killer Queen's niece has gone missing…"

"You don't think…" Meat said.

"She's about the right age," Macca replied, "she's about 18 right?"

"I'd say so…" she replied.

"And she fits the general description the boys got." He said.

"What are we going to do?" she asked.

"Nothing for now," he said, "let's see how this plays out; don't say anything to her about it for the moment…"

"Okay," Meat said, "well she's just getting changed for bed…"

"You having an early night?" he asked.

"I was, until you decided to drop that bomb on me…" Meat replied.

It hadn't taken me that long to fall asleep that night, even though I was in a strange bed in a strange place, so much had happened throughout the day I was exhausted.

When I woke up I was alone, I'd slept through the night so I had no idea if Meat had come to bed at all. I had no idea what time it was, but I got changed and headed out into the main part of the station. It was empty apart from Meat, who was sitting up against the wall, looking like she had a lot on her mind.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"No idea," she replied, "probably about 8 or something… did you sleep okay?"

"Surprisingly enough, yeah." I said, "You?"

"Didn't sleep…" she said, "too much going through my head…"

"Anything you want to talk about?" I asked.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Erm…" I started.

"I know the name you've decided to go by," she said, "but who are you really, before you decided to come here?"

I didn't answer her, not really sure how to.

"I'm guessing you ran away from home." She said.

"Yeah…" I replied.

"I'm just going to come right out and ask," she said, "are you Killer Queen's niece?"

I was shocked by the question, even though I shouldn't have been because I vaguely remembered Big Macca talking to Meat about it the night before, just before I fell asleep.

"Yes…" I said, "I am…"

"Why are you here?" she asked, "I mean did she send you here to spy on us or to lead the Secret Police to where we are…"

"They already know where you are," I said, "How do you think I knew where you were…"

"So did she send you here?" she asked.

"No, she has no idea where I am," I said, "and I wouldn't really expect her to care too much anyway… Family doesn't really come too high on her list of concerns…"

"So how exactly did you find us?" she asked, standing up.

"I hacked into the Globalsoft mainframe…" I said, "Into the security files to find out your last known location, and decided to take it from there…"

"So you're pretty smart then?" she asked.

"Apparently…" I replied.

"So it would be easy for you to lie to me." She said.

"Not really," I replied, "being smart doesn't necessarily make you a good liar."

"Why should I believe that you're not here to spy on us?" she asked.

"I don't know," I said, "I've got no way to prove I'm not… I guess you'd just have to trust me…"

"But I don't know you." She said.

"I don't know me either…" I replied, "That's part of the reason I came here, I want to figure out who I really am…"


	4. Chapter 3

I had to come up with a way to prove to Meat that I wasn't a spy. There had to be something I could do. Some way for me to prove to her than my aunt hadn't sent me here to spy on them, on her. I was pacing back and forth in her room, the odd little things catching my eye every now and again, a torn up picture from a… what's that word again… Magazine. Yeah that's the one. Colourful ribbons and bits of shiny material. My mind boggled thinking about where she found all this stuff.

Then it hit me, I could show her I wasn't a spy, or at least try to. I went over to my bag to get out my laptop. It wasn't there. Someone had been through my bag. I walked out to the main part of the station. They had been having a meeting, which I wasn't needed nor wanted at, which is why I had been in Meats room.

When I got into the main part of the station I saw the Bohemians standing around one of the things that passed for a seat, all looking at something. Scaramouche was crouched down; in front of whatever it is they were looking at. It didn't take long for me to realise they had my laptop.

"I thought you said you were smart…" I heard Meat say to her.

"I'm smarter than you are," Scaramouche replied, "but this girl has this thing locked up tighter than your belt."

"Excuse me?" Meat asked, getting a little angry, "and just what do you mean by that?"

"Well it's not like you've let Brit anywhere near you since…" Scaramouche started, "well you know."

"Girls, girls," Macca said, trying to calm the situation, "this isn't the time or place for that; we need to know what's on that laptop."

"I can't get into it." Scaramouche said.

"Well…" I said, "You could always just ask for the password."

They all turned and looked at me.

"Well this is going to get interesting." Brit said from his spot leaning against the wall.

"We want to know," Macca said, "why you're here."

He had his hands on his hips, and I had to try really hard not to laugh, he looked camper than Khashoggi at Christmas.

"Like I told Meat earlier, I don't know why I'm here…" I said, "I didn't feel like I could fit in with the Gaga girls, I didn't feel I could accept the world that my aunt is forcing everyone to live in…"

"So you admit you're Killer Queen's niece." Macca said.

I looked at Meat; she was looking at her boots.

"If you'd have asked me that, I would've told you…" I said, "and no she didn't send me here to spy on you, or lead the Police here, though they already know where you are, as you haven't moved bases since that last attack…"

"She talks more rubbish than you do." Scaramouche said, looking at Galileo.

"Hey," he said, "I talk rubbish because I'm a genius…"

"That's a matter of opinion…" Meat said.

"What are you saying about my boyfriend?" Scaramouche said.

"You heard me." Meat replied.

"Girls," Macca said, "let's get back to the matter at hand; you two can fight it out later."

"It won't be much of a fight," Meat said, "quick punch to the head and she'll be on her arse."

"Oh you think so…" Scaramouche said.

"I know so." Meat replied matter-of-factly.

"Move out of the way…" I said, walking through the group to get to the laptop.

They all moved and let me through. I crouched down and typed in my password.

"There," I said, looking at Scaramouche, "it's unlocked."

"Please continue…" she said.

"What were you guys looking for on here?" I asked.

"Something to tell us why you're here…" Meat said.

"I don't know why I'm here…" I replied, "but I'll show you what lead me here…"

In around 2 minutes I had hacked into the Globalsoft mainframe, and found the file on the Bohemians.

"There…" I said, "that's what lead me here. It's a file about you guys… Everything is in there, your last known base, which is here obviously… your last known movements, which haven't been updated in a while… your last known numbers and what they class as important members, or threats as they see it…"

"Am I on that list?" Cliff asked.

"Erm…" I said looking at him, "I don't think so…"

"The only thing you'd be a threat to is the drinks table at a party…" Meat said.

"I'll have you know…" Cliff started to say.

"Oh shut up." Meat said.

"Okay." He replied.

"So just who do they see as a threat?" Brit asked, "I mean obviously I'm on that list…"

"Actually…" Meat said leaning over the laptop and looking at the list, "you're actually down as being deceased."

"Deceased?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said, "you know, like, dead."

"Oh…" he said.

"I'm sure it was probably just some mistake," I said, "obviously you're not dead…"

"They thought he was though," Meat said, "as we all did… when we remembered who he was…"

"Because I'm so easy to forget." Brit said.

"You try having your memories wiped and being sent to the Seven Seas," Meat said, "having to put up with that idiot barman… what was his name again?"

"Pop." Galileo and Scaramouche said together.

"I just don't understand how you could forget everything." He said.

"What was everything?" I asked.

"Here we go…" Macca said.

"We were together," Brit said, "totally in love…"

I looked at Meat and she rolled her eyes.

"Then I get shot, and everyone disappears for days on end," he continued, "they come back and she doesn't remember a thing."

"That's not strictly true…" Meat said.

Everyone looked at her.

"Yes, I didn't remember, but I started to…" she said, "but by the time I had started to remember how I felt, he'd moved on… and actually started to show me a side I hated, made me question why I'd ever loved him in the first place…"

"You can't expect a man to hang around waiting for a chick," he said, "I have needs…"

"Don't we know it…" Meat said.

Charlotte stood up, as if to front her out.

"Oh sit down," Meat said, "you're just the current one in a long list…"

"I'm different…" Charlotte said.

"You're right about that," Meat said, "you're more gullible than the rest…"

"You showed no interest at all." Brit said.

"If you ever loved me in the first place you would have waited for me to remember," she said, "but you didn't, you just moved on without giving me a second thought…"

"One thing nearly dying made me realise," he said, "life is too short to wait around."

"One thing you nearly dying made me realise," Meat said, "you're really not worth it…"

"Yet you haven't moved on." Brit said.

Meat walked over to him.

"Get one thing through that thick head of yours," she said, "I don't love you… I don't think I ever really did, I was young and foolish, and you were there to… satisfy my needs, lets say… I can barely stand to live in the same place as you, but I do, because this is my home…"

"It's my home too." He said.

"Then you'd better hope we get some new members to our little family, because you're going through the ones we have at an alarming rate…" she said.

With that he walked away from her.


	5. Chapter 4

Once all the tension had died away, Brit had gone for a 'talk' with Charlotte, and everything seemed back to normal, or as normal as it could be, Meat and I were sitting going through the file on the laptop.

"So they have all this information on us…" Meat said, "on all of us…?"

"Yeah," I said, "I didn't really look through all that too much before, I was just more interested in where you guys were…"

"Makes sense…" she said, "I know it sounds a bit egotistical, but what is there about me on there?"

"If you hold on I'll find out…" I said.

She nodded.

It took a bit of digging around but I found the section of the file on her. It looked a bit more complex than the others we had looked at.

"That's a bit weird…" I said, reading through the file.

"What is?" she asked.

"Well with the others, they have a rough idea of parentage… that kind of thing…" I started.

"With me they don't…" she said.

"No…" I said.

"I was adopted." She said.

"Oh…" I said.

"It's no big deal," she said, "I'm over it."

I couldn't help but laugh at that.

"So what else do they have to say about me?" she asked.

"Let's see…" I said, "oh this bit will make you laugh 'A complex character, of un-known parentage, Ms Loaf can be listed amongst the most dangerous of the Bohemians. Her fiery temper and passion for her beliefs make her very volatile'."

"Fiery temper…" she said, "never heard it described as that before… usually just get called a moody bitch."

"I have an idea…" I said.

"And what's that?" she asked.

"Well it's a bit risky, but I could wipe all these files…" I said.

"Delete them?" she asked.

"Make it like they were never there…" I replied.

"Why is it risky?" she asked.

"The programs will detect the change…" I said.

"How do you know that?" she asked.

"I wrote them…" I said. "well most of them…"

"So you'll know a way around them," she said, "without getting caught…?"

"Not really," I said, "there is no way around them… unless the files are deleted directly from my aunts main computer system, and even then that would be flagged because she never deletes anything… if you noticed Brit's file was still there even though he was listed as deceased…"

"I did notice that…" she said.

"I could delete one without it causing much of an alert…" I said, looking at her.

"So you could delete my file…?" she asked.

"Yeah…" I said, "we could make it look like you never existed."

"I always had this image in my head, you know, going down in history as being one of the people who overthrew Killer Queen, brought an end to the Gaga years…" she said, "but not existing in the first place could be pretty impressive too…"

"It's up to you." I said.

"Can we wait?" she asked, "I mean this is a pretty big decision to make…"

"Of course…" I replied.

"It'd be nice to be off the grid, completely, you know…" she said, the look in her eyes changing as she said it.

I nodded.

"Anyway…" she said, "my stomach is telling me it's about lunchtime, want me to sort you something out?"

"Sure…" I said.

She smiled and stood up, heading off in the direction of what I guessed was the kitchen.

I decided to check to see if anyone had tried to contact me since I'd been gone. It turned out they had, I had so many emails. Some from my aunt, which I knew would contain a tracker, I wasn't that stupid. I had mail from my brother Ryan. I opened it and the hologram came up above the keyboard. The rest of the Bohemians looked a bit wary.

"Checking my email…" I said with a nervous smile.

They just continued on with their business.

"Oi you idiot," the image of my brother said, "mum and dad are really freaking out about where on Planet Mall you've gone, well mum is, dad said something about you always being a free spirit…"

I had to laugh.

"Anyway, hit me back to let me know you're still alive, you don't have to say where you've gone, cause lets be honest here I don't care that much… oh can I have your music system as you won't be needing it? Love you, laters." Concluded the message.

I closed it, laughing at my brother, he did care really, but he never liked to show it.

Another message was from Aeryn, my best friend at school. I clicked open, again the hologram appeared. I thought Cliff was going to faint he looked so freaked out.

"Still checking my email…" I said.

"How do we know you're not plotting some mad plan to have us all wiped out?" he asked.

"Because I'm still sitting here," I said, "surely I'd make sure I wasn't sitting in the building I was going to blow up."

"Oh yeah," he said, "that's a smart plan…"

At that moment the hologram changed, instead of it being mail it was chat.

"Bitch where are you?" Aeryn said.

"Nice to see you too Aer…" I replied.

"Wow…" she said, looking around, "what is this place? Do they have you like captured or something? Why is that guy wearing a dress?"

"Because Cliff's dress sense is the most important thing here…" I said. "what have I missed?"

"Your aunt is like really not impressed with you going missing," she said, "she had those Police idiots of hers here this morning, asking anyone and everyone where you are…"

"And no one knows…" I said, I noticed Meat walking back over to us, "Aer I'm going to have to go…"

She saw Meat.

"Who or what is that?" Aeryn asked.

"Talk later idiot." I said.

"Miss you bitch." She said.

"Whatever slut, laters." I said.

With that she signed off.

Meat handed me some food.

"It's not great," she said, sitting back down, "but it's the best we have at the moment."

"It's great, thanks…" I replied.

"Did I interrupt something?" she asked.

"My friend Aeryn," I said, "she sent me email so I was going to check it, but took too long and she could see I was online…"

"Hence the weird head thing that popped up in the middle of your laptop?" she asked.

"Yeah…" I replied with a laugh.

"Can anyone else see you're online?" she asked.

"Not that I know of…" I replied.

At that moment another hologram popped up, one I hadn't wanted to see, one that could spell disaster for everything.


	6. Chapter 5

"Oh… shit…" I said.

"Watch your language young lady." The head said.

"Sorry mum…" I said.

"That's better," my mum said, "now where are you?"

"Erm…" I said, "well…"

"You shouldn't just run off like that," she said, "your father and I have been worried sick, haven't we dear."

"Not really," I heard my dad say, "she's a smart kid, she knows what she's doing."

"Thanks dad." I replied.

"Anytime my little firefly," he said, "you have fun."

"I can never get this thing to work properly," my mum said, "I can't see where you are…"

"That's probably a good thing mum…" I said.

"Your aunt has been worried about you," my mum said, "she has been to the school and everything…"

"She's not worried about me mum," I replied, "she's worried about what I know."

"Not all that Bohemian nonsense again," my mum said, "when will you learn they aren't real, they exist only in the imagination of children who have too much time on their hands."

"I guess that's where I'll exist from now on then…" I said.

"Excuse me?" my mum said.

"Goodbye mum… and tell Ryan he can have my music system, I'll be making real music from now on…" I said, closing the laptop.

"You okay…?" Meat asked me.

"Oddly enough…" I said, "yeah."

"Your dad sounds… interesting." Meat said.

"He's err… different." I said.

She laughed.

Macca came over.

"Meat, Brit is organising a team to go on a food gathering mission…" he said.

"Because we all know how well that worked out last time…" she said.

"This time he'll be more careful, and the end results will be better." Macca said.

"Couldn't really be much worse could they." She said.

"What happened last time?" I asked.

"They were gone for 4 days, we expected them back in two," Meat said, "turns out Cliff got stuck in a storage container filled with all kinds of chemicals and nasty stuff… he was in there for nearly 12 hours before they got him out…"

"Was he okay?" I asked.

"Chemicals effect your brain, and we're not sure when he last had one of those, so it's hard to tell." Meat said.

"I heard that." Cliff said.

"You were supposed to." She replied.

He laughed.

"See?" she said.

I laughed.

"Not many places store food anymore," I said, "most homes on Planet Mall have been switched over to the food replicators…"

"The what?" Meat asked.

"Machines that replicate food…" I said.

"Like vending machines?" Macca asked.

"No, vending machines have food put into them that people can then purchase…" I said, "food replicators actually replicate food… you put in something and tell the machine what you want, and it makes it. Its easier than finding ways to store food, and its cheaper in the long run…"

"They have machines for everything these days," Meat said, "what was wrong with the days where you could go and kill a cow and eat it…"

"The cows all got killed…" I said.

"Not the point." She replied, slapping my arm playfully, "before you know it they'll have machines that do everything for you, go to the toilet, make love…"

"Well…" I said.

"Oh please tell me that Killer Queen hasn't made some 'app' that does that…" Meat said, "people on Planet Mall will die from boredom if they can't reproduce…"

"You can actually order babies now," I said, "it's still in its early stages but its happening…"

"That woman needs to be stopped…" Meat said, "people need to remember how to do things for themselves, to think for themselves…"

"The majority of people on Planet Mall haven't had an original thought in their lifetime…" I said.

"Which is why she needs to be stopped." Meat said.

"Back on to these food reproducing machine like things…" Macca said.

"Food replicators." I said.

"Yes," he said, "where can we steal one?"

"More importantly what do you put in them?" Meat asked, "I'd like to know what I'm eating before we steal something to make it."

"At the moment it's a jelly like substance…" I said, "you can buy it…"

"So we can steal it…" Meat said.

"Well, yeah…" I said, "the machine itself might be an issue… all the buildings that make them are kept under tight security… But a factory recently closed down on the edge of the Outlands, I'm pretty sure we'd find an almost completed one in there…"

"Almost completed?" Meat said, "so you ask it for chicken and you get an egg?"

"No," I said with a laugh, "almost completed as in we'd have to fit some of the components ourselves, but it can't be that difficult."

Macca looked at me with an odd look on his face.

"What?" I asked.

"I like you," he said, "I think you're going to make a good addition to our family… note down everything we'll need and I'll send the team out."

With that he walked away. I looked at Meat.

"I like you too…" she said with a little smile.


	7. Chapter 6

I had made a note of everything that the Bohemians would need to complete a food replicator, Macca had decided that I should go out with Brit and his team, and as Meat wouldn't let me go with Brit on my own she came along as well. She had this idea in her head that he'd tie me up and leave me somewhere. Though for some reason the idea of tying me up was one that intrigued her, Brit wouldn't be the one doing the tying.

We had been walking for a few hours when we hit the edge of the Outlands, Brit was still grumbling about how much of a stupid idea it was me going with them, the Police would be looking for me.

"I don't see why she had to come with us." He said to Galileo.

"Well she could have just given you the list," Meat said, "but knowing you, you'd have come back with half a rusty old car or something."

"I don't understand why we need a food repli… whatever anyway." He said.

"And with that sentence he proves my point about the rusty old car…" she whispered to me.

"And you two used to date?" I asked.

"She couldn't get enough of me." Brit said.

"I didn't realise what else was out there…" Meat hit back, "it was all 'dreamer this, dreamer that' no offence G… then once he found the dreamer he gets himself shot, that's him all over, one big anti-climax."

"You can question many things about me, Meat," he said, "but not that."

She rolled her eyes. I laughed.

"This is it," I said, "the disused factory…"

"Right," Brit said, "we need to find a window that's low to the ground…"

"Or…" Meat said walking up to the doors, "we could go through the door…"

She opened it with ease.

"How did you know about this place anyway?" Brit asked me.

"I passed it when I was trying to find you guys," I said, "I figured if I couldn't find you then I'd need a place to stay for the night…"

"Not just a pretty face…" Meat said.

"We have work to do." Brit said.

Brit walked off with a couple of the others. Meat headed off to see if she could find anything worth anything.

"Don't mind him," Scaramouche said, "he's still a bit touchy about Meat not remembering him, I don't think he's completely over her to be honest."

"What about her?" I asked.

"Oh she's so over him," Scaramouche said, "she probably wouldn't even piss on him if he were on fire anymore…"

"So he doesn't like me because… well…" I said, trying to find the right words.

"Because you and Meat are getting along?" she asked.

I nodded a bit.

"He's a bit wary of you," she said, "we all are in a way, but he's more worried about you hurting Meat, for all his bravado, he still cares."

"I don't want to step on anyone's toes…" I said.

"Don't worry about it," said Brit, having walked back over to us, "you're not. She isn't in to me anymore, I've dealt with that. I think I've found what you're looking for…"

He lead the way over to a machine that came to just above my knee from the floor, I crouched down and took a closer look.

"Yeah, this is it," I said, "looks very nearly complete… but just in case it's not, grab pretty much everything you can find that might go with it…"

"This is all well and good," Meat said, walking over to where we were, swinging a huge metal pipe, "but what about that stuff we need to put into it…?"

We heard banging. Looking around we saw a huge storage container at the end of the factory.

"I think Cliff found what we're looking for…" Meat said with a laugh.

Brit went and let Cliff out. I looked in one of the boxes in the container.

"This is exactly what we need…" I said.

"This?" Meat asked picking up a square of green jelly, "this is what we'll be eating? I'm going on a liquid diet…"

"Trust me," I said, "once we've got the machine working, it'll taste great."

"If you say so…" she said.

We didn't notice the Police that had walked in through the door that Meat had opened 10 minutes before.

"Hey, what are you kids doing in here!" shouted one of the police officers.

We all turned around.

"Oh shit…" Brit said.

"We figured as no one else is using this stuff, we might as well put it to good use…" Meat said, "if not it's just going to sit here, and it'll cost Globalsoft a lot of cash to sort it all out…"

"You're trespassing on private property." He said.

"Right," she said, "we'll just take what we need and get going…"

The Police looked at each other.

"I don't see why not," one said, "if it's gone it's one less thing for us to worry about."

"They don't pay us enough to give a shit really," another said, "posted to the Outlands and forgotten about."

"Okay," said the first one, "just take it and be quick about it…"

We all looked at each other, and let out a collective sigh of relief, thankfully the lack of lighting in the factory was working in our favour, well in my favour.

We loaded up the cart we had brought with us, we packed it with everything we might need, the machine itself, parts and enough food to last a good 6 months. As we were leaving the factory, we had to go past the Police.

"Wait one minute…" one said, clicking away at the device on his arm, "you look familiar…"

I looked at Meat, it was almost like she could read my mind, as she gripped the metal bar she was still carrying. She looked at Brit and he handed the pull bar of the cart to Galileo, Scaramouche moved so she was standing between me and the Police, and Cliff stood there looking gormless.

"Wow…" Cliff said, "what does that thing do?"

The police officer looked at him.

"This?" he asked, "it's a communication device, everyone on Planet Mall has one, don't you?"

"I think I lost mine…" Cliff said, "what does it show you?"

"Well right now I'm looking to see if that girl is the one I think she is." The officer said.

"She's nothing special," Cliff said, "brains of our current operation, but other than that she's not that interesting."

The two other officers had already gone to stand outside, I figured they really didn't care who I was either way.

"Can you show me how it works?" Cliff asked.

"Not right now," the officer said, "this is important…"

Brit looked outside the door.

"Your buddies don't seem to think it's that important…" Brit said, "they've already gone across the road to that bar."

The officer obviously got to what he was looking for. He looked at me, then back to the picture, then up at me again. I didn't blink or look away, he narrowed his eyes.

"You…" he started to say.

"Phoenix, run!" Meat said, "don't stop running till you get back to the Heartbreak, go!"

I did as I was told and ran out of the building, on my way out I heard the sound of metal connecting with something. The last thing I heard was Meat shouting at the officer in her Scottish accent.

"You little fucker, don't get blood on my boots."


	8. Chapter 7

"What do you mean you don't know where they are?" Macca asked, as I tried explaining what had happened.

"Meat told me to run, so I did…" I said.

"Where's Meat?" someone asked that I didn't know.

"I left them on the edge of the Outlands," I said, "she told me to run… so I ran…"

"And you left them there?" he said.

"Prince, this is the girl I was telling you about…" Macca said.

"Right, the one my sister has taken a shine to." Prince said.

"She's your sister?" I asked.

"Yes," he said, "and the only one I've got so I'd like her back in one piece…"

"I only did…" I started.

"What she told you to do, I know." He said, "what were the odds?"

"Well, Meat, Brit, Galileo, Scaramouche and Cliff against 3 Police officers…" I said.

"4 and a half against 3…" he said.

"When did you leave them?" he asked.

"45 minutes ago, give or take…" I said.

He nodded.

"Give it another hour or so and if they aren't back we'll go out looking for them." Prince said.

"Okay…" I said.

"Not you," he replied, "you're not going anywhere… There's a reason that Meat wanted you to get back here, so you're going to stay here."

"I see that being demanding runs in the family." I said.

"Its one of the more pleasant family traits." He replied with a smile.

After an hour and a half of sitting around, nothing. They weren't back. I couldn't help but think if anything had happened to them it was my fault. Of course it was my fault, if I hadn't come to the Heartbreak this wouldn't have happened, because they wouldn't have known about the factory and there wouldn't be any Police interest. Police interest, that was it. I got my laptop out and again hacked into the mainframe.

I could see that a call for back-up had been made to the factory where we had been, but by the time backup had arrived it was too late. 3 police officers had been left unconscious, and bleeding, and the factory was empty. It had been logged as a robbery gone bad. No mention of me, or the Bohemians. No mention of them being there had to be good news.

I was sitting away from the main doorway when I heard voices.

"I'm fine," I heard Meat say, "he split my lip so I knocked his teeth out of the back of his head… did Phoenix make it back?"

I looked up from the laptop to see her walking towards me, looking a little worse for wear.

"You okay?" I asked, closing the laptop and standing up.

"It's nothing…" she said, "Brit got it worse…"

I looked over her shoulder to see Brit dragging the cart with him, with a black eye, and a bloody nose.

"And the others?" I asked.

"Ran for cover at the first spilling of blood, Galileo said something about not being able to be a rock star without a pretty face, but it was mainly me and Brit." She said with a laugh.

"Leaving 3 Police officers unconscious from the looks of the report…" I said.

"Any mention of us?" she asked.

"Nope." I said.

"Only unconscious?" Brit asked, "I'm sure I heard something crack when Meat hit that first one with the bar."

"Got blood all over my outfit too the bastard," she said, "I'm going to have to go change, blood is so not a good look for me…"

She smiled.

"Meat…" I said, before she got to the door.

"Yeah?" she said, turning back.

"Thank you…" I replied.

She just smiled, and went to get changed. I walked over to Brit.

"Thank you as well…" I said.

"Don't mention it," he said, "you'd better be able to get this thing working, I'm starving."

I laughed a little.

"I'll see what I can do…" I said.

He smiled at me and walked away.

It took me a good two hours but I finally got the replicator in working order. Meat had spent most of the two hours watching me in utter amusement. Apparently she liked a girl who was good with her hands. Brit volunteered to go first, and only once the machine hadn't blown up, and the food hadn't killed him, did everyone else decide to eat.

While everyone was enjoying the food I decided to check again on what was going on with Globalsoft. I managed to get the news on my laptop, and watched as the Gaga girl on the screen talked about how a huge manhunt was now underway for Killer Queen's niece, who had last been seen heading south from the main city, apparently. I hadn't at all, the Heartbreak was north. So either they had no idea where I was and were really looking in the south, or they knew where I was but didn't want me to find out.

My aunt knew what I could do, so she would have known I'd want to know if they knew where I was, but I wasn't sure if she knew I would have joined the Bohemians.

I checked my email, I had one from her that was timed just after the Police incident. I knew the security on my laptop was enough to block the tracker, and I was interested in what she had to say.

I opened it up, and as usual it was a hologram message. She loved the sound of her own voice far too much to send a text based email.

"Do you seriously think you can defy me," she bellowed out of the message, causing the entire Heartbreak to turn around and take notice, "you think you can pass on all my secrets to those Bohemians. I will crush the resistance, destroy every stronghold, and arrest every last one of them, sending them to the Seven Seas until I find you. Your mother thinks I'm worried because you're my darling niece. Don't be fooled child, you're important to me for completely different reasons."

That was it, end of message.

"What got up her ass…" Cliff said when I closed the laptop.

"So she knows you're with us…" Meat said, choosing to ignore what Cliff had said.

"I honestly figured she would know…" I said, "she knows I've read too much…"

"But from that message it didn't sound like she knew which group you were with…" Brit said.

"I'm thinking about just going back home…" I said.

"What?" Meat asked, looking at me.

"It'll be easier…" I said.

"I got a split lip and blood on my boots for you, not so you could go running off home at the first sign of things getting tough." She said.

"You heard what she said, she said she's going to destroy every stronghold… it's not worth the risk…" I said.

"We're at risk anyway," Cliff said, "with you here or not. What's a bit more added risk… at least we can have a full breakfast at the start of the day, makes the risk worth it if you ask me."

"And that's the first sensible thing he's said in about 3 years…" Meat said.

"I don't want you guys to have to risk anything for me…" I said, "I'm just me, I'm not worth it."

"We're going to have to disagree on that," she said, "you are worth it. For some reason, I'm not sure what yet, you are worth it."


	9. Chapter 8

The following morning I woke up a little unsure where I was. I could feel arms around me, and I could hear a heartbeat other than my own. I slowly opened my eyes, finding myself cuddled up to Meat. Then I remembered. She had talked me into not making any rash decisions and thinking things over for a day or two.

In my heart I knew what I wanted to do, but my head was telling me something totally different. If I followed my heart I'd stay at the Heartbreak with Meat and the Bohemians, following my head and doing what was sensible would mean leaving, returning home, and dealing with whatever that would bring. I knew the dangers of staying and the dangers of leaving. In an odd way the dangers to me were worse if I left. But the dangers to the Bohemians and the girl I was currently wrapped up in would be a lot less if I left.

I careful untangled myself from Meats arms, which certainly wasn't easy. She let out a grumbling sound and turned over. I let out a breath of relief; I didn't want to wake her up at what was probably some un-godly hour. I needed time to think, to plan what I was going to do. There was a little voice in my head telling me that I knew what I had to do, but there was something stronger within me fighting it. I looked at where Meat was laying, sleeping, without a care in the world it seemed. I couldn't help but smile a little.

Quietly getting dressed I headed out of the room, closing the door behind me. I went out into the main part of the station, but it was empty, which was a good thing, less explaining to do. Taking a look around I headed to the stairs that lead to the surface.

Just as I was about to go up the stairs, I heard a voice behind me.

"Going somewhere?" the voice said.

"No… well, yes, but no… I need time to think." I replied.

"So you're just sneaking off, before everyone wakes up… Before she wakes up." They said.

"It's easier this way…" I said.

"You leaving isn't going to make this easier," they said, "not on you; you're here for a reason."

"I'm here because I'm too intelligent for my own good," I said, "I refuse to take the crap that my aunt considers a life…"

"There's more to it than that…" they said, "You were drawn here, to this group for a reason. There are Bohemian strongholds all over Planet Mall, there has to be a reason that you chose this one."

"It was closest…" I said.

"No it wasn't," the replied, "the one to the south was a lot closer… you walked for hours to get here, you could have made it there within half the time…"

"What's your point?" I asked.

"My point is, there has to be a reason," they said, "something that made you come here… and something that made us not tie you up, torture you, and send you back to your aunt in a bag."

"Well that's a pleasant thought…" I said, turning to look at them.

"You walking out of here isn't going to be good," Prince said, "everyone becomes a Bohemian for a reason, they believe everything we stand for without question… if you leave here you'll break her heart, you realise that."

"No I won't," I said to him, "she barely knows me… her heart won't be broken if I leave. Sure she'll be pissed off, but she won't be heartbroken…"

"You really don't understand do you…" he said.

"Make me understand." I replied.

"I can't," he said, "you have to figure it out for yourself… enjoy your thinking space, but don't go too far, even at this hour the Police will be out, and considering your aunts message… well just be careful."

With that he walked away, leaving me standing there.

I'd been on the surface for about 3 hours, sitting on top of a stripped down old van, thinking. I wasn't really getting anywhere with the thinking, it wasn't making my choice any easier, nor was it making sense of the whole situation. If anything it was making it worse. What Prince had said didn't help. Surely me leaving wouldn't affect Meat that much, like I'd said to him she barely knew me, we'd known each other two days.

There was one thing that kept popping into my head, one word, music. I wasn't sure why, but it seemed that the most important thing was music. While I'd been asleep the previous night I'd had a dream, we had managed to bring real music to Planet Mall without even leaving the Heartbreak. I had a mad idea of how that would work, but I was pretty sure that it would be highly dangerous. Saying that though, the things that were the most enjoyable always were the most dangerous.

I decided to head back to the Heartbreak; I needed to see if my mad idea would work. I didn't expect to find a very irate Meat waiting for me when I got back.

"Where have you been?" she yelled at me as soon as I set foot back in the Heartbreak.

"I needed to think…" I said, "I've had a really cool idea…"

"You took off without telling anyone where you were going," she said, "you didn't even wake me up before you left…"

"You were asleep," I said, "I didn't want to wake you…"

"So you just left me to wake up to an empty bed?" she asked.

"I would have left a note but I couldn't find a pen…" I said.

She stormed off down the hallway towards the main part of the station. I went to the bedroom to grab my laptop; I needed to see if my idea would be possible before I told anyone.

When I had my laptop I went to the main part of the station and sat off to one side with my back against the wall. Opening it up I logged in, and hacked into the Globalsoft mainframe. I needed to see if it would be possible to broadcast live over the internet and TV stations without having the broadcast traced. If it could be traced it would take the Secret Police a matter of minutes to stop it, and they wouldn't hesitate stopping us altogether.

An hour later I was still checking to see if it would be possible when Meat walked over to me. She stood in front of me looking at me for what must have been 10 minutes, before I looked up at her and she decided to speak.

"Are you planning to take over Planet Mall or what?" she asked, "you've been sitting there for an hour…"

"Not really Planet Mall…" I said with a smile, "just the broadcasting…"

"Okay," she said, "you've got my attention, explain…"

She sat down next to me.

"I have this idea…" I said, "which I was going to tell you about earlier before you set off ranting about waking up alone…"

She shot me a look.

"Still too soon to joke about it…" I said.

She nodded.

"Anyway," I said, "I was thinking we could hack into the mainframe, and broadcast music out to the idiots of Planet Mall…"

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well I can use the same channels that my aunt uses to broadcast her mind-numbing television shows and news updates, hack into it, and blast out some real rock music…" I said, "instead of that computer generated rubbish that the Gaga girls and clones from the Boy Zone listen to…"

"So we could have a rock concert…" she started.

"Without leaving the Heartbreak." I said, finishing her sentence.


End file.
